Podcasts about indo aryan

What is the difference between East and West? One helpful line to draw is that between Iranian and Indo-Aryan cultures, as seen in the extremely ancient traditions of the Avesta and the Ṛigveda, respectively. Whereas the common Indo-European heritage of multiple generations of gods (ahuras/asuras vs daēwas/devas, see also titans vs gods—which, as long as we're painting with broad brushes, we might imagine have something to do with memory of past relations of production as “ages”) is ultimately nondual, the Iranian tradition demonizes the gods (Skt. devas, Av. daēwas) and elevates one of the earlier ahuras (cf. Skt. asuras) into an absolute good creator, to whom is opposed an absolute evil which has corrupted the world and from which a series of saviors must be sent to save us, culminating in a final eschaton, a resurrection and final judgment, etc—the whole apparatus of Abrahamism is basically here already. Within this, we explore the Indo-European myth of the first man and the first king, whose Avestan expression features a societal collapse and a post-apocalyptic remnant surviving in some sort of secure underground enclosure called the wara. The new Japanese translation of the entire Avesta by Prof. Noda Keigō (2020), the first into any language in nearly a hundred years, as well as the new English Ṛigveda of Jamison and Brereton (2014), equip us uniquely well for this investigation. Our main takeaway is the sheer age of ruling class myths of the need to hole up in a cult compound to survive the collapse of class society—when in fact (even supposing we will need counter-waras and defensive tunnels of our own to survive climate collapse and extermination campaigns) it was always the ruling class who most needed to hide away, whereas the masses have always found a way out and forward in the struggle for production and human flourishing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode we are taking a trip down the Silk Road--or perhaps even the Spice Road--as we investigate references in this reign to individuals from "Tukara" who seem to have arrived in Yamato and stayed for a while. For photos and more, see our podcast webpage:  https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/episode-119 Rough Transcript   Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.  This is episode 119: The Question of “Tukara”   Traveling upon the ocean was never exactly safe.  Squalls and storms could arise at any time, and there was always a chance that high winds and high waves could capsize a vessel.  Most people who found themselves at the mercy of the ocean could do little but hold on and hope that they could ride out whatever adverse conditions they met with.  Many ships were lost without any explanation or understanding of what happened to them.  They simply left the port and never came back home. And so when the people saw the boat pulling up on the shores of Himuka, on the island of Tsukushi, they no doubt empathized with the voyagers' plight.  The crew looked bedraggled, and their clothing was unfamiliar.  There were both men and women, and this didn't look like your average fishing party.  If anything was clear it was this:  These folk weren't from around here. The locals brought out water and food.  Meanwhile, runners were sent with a message:  foreigners had arrived from a distant place.  They then waited to see what the government was going to do.     We are still in the second reign of Takara Hime, aka Saimei Tenno.  Last episode we talked about the palaces constructed in Asuka, as well as some of the stone works that have been found from the period, and which appear to be referenced in the Nihon Shoki—at least tangentially.   The episodes before that, we looked at the expeditions the court sent to the far north of Honshu and even past Honshu to Hokkaido. This episode we'll again be looking past the main islands of the archipelago to lands beyond.  Specifically, we are going to focus on particularly intriguing references to people from a place called “Tukara”.  We'll talk about some of the ideas about where that might be, even if they're a bit  far-fetched. That's because Tukara touches on the state of the larger world that Yamato was a part of, given its situation on the far eastern edge of what we know today as the Silk Road.  And is this just an excuse for me to take a detour into some of the more interesting things going on outside the archipelago?  No comment. The first mention of a man from Tukara actually comes at the end of the reign of Karu, aka Koutoku Tennou.  We are told that in the fourth month of 654 two men and two women of “Tukara” and one woman of “Sha'e” were driven by a storm to Hiuga.  Then, three years later, the story apparently picks up again, though possibly referring to a different group of people.  On the 3rd day of the 7th month of 657, so during the second reign of Takara Hime, we now hear about two men and four women of the Land of Tukara—no mention of Sha'e—who drifted to Tsukushi, aka Kyushu.  The Chronicles mention that these wayfarers first drifted to the island of Amami, and we'll talk about that in a bit, but let's get these puzzle pieces on the table, first.  After those six people show up, the court sent for them by post-horse.  They must have arrived by the 15th of that same month, because we are told that a model of Mt. Sumi was erected and they—the people from Tukara—were entertained, although there is another account that says they were from “Tora”. The next mention is the 10th day of the 3rd month of 659, when a Man of Tukara and his wife, again woman of Sha'e, arrived.  Then, on the 16th day of the 7th month of 660, we are told that the man of Tukara, Kenzuhashi Tatsuna, desired to return home and asked for an escort.  He planned to pay his respects at the Great Country, i.e. the Tang court, and so he left his wife behind, taking tens of men with him. All of these entries might refer to people regularly reaching Yamato from the south, from a place called “Tukara”.  Alternately, this is a single event whose story has gotten distributed over several years, as we've seen happen before with the Chronicles.  .  One of the oddities of these entries is that the terms used are not consistent.  “Tukara” is spelled at least two different ways, suggesting that it wasn't a common placename like Silla or Baekje, or even the Mishihase.  That does seem to suggest that the Chronicles were phonetically trying to find kanji, or the Sinitic characters, to match with the name they were hearing.   I would also note that “Tukara” is given the status of a “kuni”—a land, country, or state—while “sha'e”, where some of the women are said to come from, is just that, “Sha'e”. As for the name of at least one person from Tokara, Kenzuhashi Tatsuna, that certainly sounds like someone trying to fit a non-Japanese name into the orthography of the time.  “Tatsuna” seems plausibly Japanese, but “Kenzuhashi” doesn't fit quite as well into the naming structures we've seen to this point. The location of “Tukara” and “Sha'e” are not clear in any way, and as such there has been a lot of speculation about them.  While today there are placenames that fit those characters, whether or not these were the places being referenced at the time is hard to say. I'll actually start with “Sha'e”, which Aston translates as Shravasti, the capital of the ancient Indian kingdom of Kosala, in modern Uttar Pradesh.  It is also where the Buddha, Siddartha Gautama, is said to have lived most of his life after his enlightenment.  In Japanese this is “Sha'e-jou”, and like many Buddhist terms it likely comes through Sanskrit to Middle Chinese to Japanese.  One—or possibly two—women from Shravasti making the journey to Yamato in the company of a man (or men) from Tukara seems quite the feat.  But then, where is “Tukara”? Well, we have at least three possible locations that I've seen bandied about.  I'll address them from the most distant to the closest option.  These three options were Tokharistan, Dvaravati, and the Tokara islands. We'll start with Tokharistan on the far end of the Silk Road.  And to start, let's define what that “Silk Road” means.  We've talked in past episodes about the “Western Regions”, past the Han-controlled territories of the Yellow River.   The ancient Tang capital of Chang'an was built near to the home of the Qin dynasty, and even today you can go and see both the Tang tombs and the tomb of Qin Shihuangdi and his terracotta warriors, all within a short distance of Xi'an, the modern city built on the site of Chang'an.  That city sits on a tributary of the Yellow River, but the main branch turns north around the border of modern Henan and the similarly sounding provinces of Shanxi and Shaanxi.  Following it upstream, the river heads north into modern Mongolia, turns west, and then heads south again, creating what is known as the Ordos loop.  Inside is the Ordos plateau, also known as the Ordos Basin.  Continuing to follow the Yellow river south, on the western edge of the Ordos, you travel through Ningxia and Gansu—home of the Hexi, or Gansu, Corridor.  That route eventually takes to Yumenguan, the Jade Gate, and Dunhuang.  From there roads head north or south along the edge of the Taklamakan desert in the Tarim basin.  The southern route travels along the edge of the Tibetan plateau, while the northern route traversed various oasis cities through Turpan, Kucha, to the city of Kashgar.  Both routes made their way across the Pamirs and the Hindu Kush into South Asia. We've brought up the Tarim Basin and the Silk Road a few times.  This is the path that Buddhism appears to have taken to get to the Yellow River Basin and eventually to the Korean Peninsula and eastward to the Japanese archipelago.  But I want to go a bit more into detail on things here, as there is an interesting side note about “Tukara” that I personally find rather fascinating, and thought this would be a fun time to share. Back in Episode 79 we talked about how the Tarim basin used to be the home to a vast inland sea, which was fed by the meltwater from the Tianshan and Kunlun mountains.  This sea eventually dwindled, though it was still large enough to be known to the Tang as the Puchang Sea.  Today it has largely dried up, and it is mostly just the salt marshes of Lop Nur that remain.  Evidence for this larger sea, however, can be observed in some of the burials found around the Tarim basin.  These burials include the use of boat-shaped structures—a rather curious feature to be found out in the middle of the desert. And it is the desert that was left behind as the waters receded that is key to much of what we know about life in the Tarim basin, as it has proven to be quite excellent at preserving organic material.  This includes bodies, which dried out and naturally turned into mummies, including not only the wool clothing they were wearing, but also features such as hair and even decoration. These “Tarim mummies”, as they have been collectively called, date from as early as 2100 BCE all the way up through the period of time we're currently talking about, and have been found in several desert sites: Xiaohe, the earliest yet discovered; Loulan, near Lop Nur on the east of the Tarim Basin, dating from around 1800 BCE; Cherchen, on the southern edge of the Tarim Basin, dating from roughly 1000 BCE; and too many others to go into in huge detail. The intriguing thing about these burials is that  many of them don't have features typically associated with people of ethnic Han—which is to say traditional Chinese—ancestry, nor do they necessarily have the features associated with the Xiongnu and other steppe nomads.  In addition they have colorful clothing  made from wool and leather, with vivid designs.  Some bodies near Hami, just east of the basin, were reported to have blonde to light brown hair, and their cloth showed radically different patterns from that found at Cherchen and Loulan, with patterns that could reasonably be compared with the plaids now common in places like Scotland and Ireland, and previously found in the Hallstadt salt mine in Central Europe from around 3500 BCE, from which it is thought the Celtic people may have originated. At the same time that people—largely Westerners— were studying these mummies, another discovery in the Tarim basin was also making waves.  This was the discovery of a brand new language.  Actually, it was two languages—or possibly two dialects of a language—in many manuscripts, preserved in Kucha and Turpan.  Once again, the dry desert conditions proved invaluable to maintain these manuscripts, which date from between the late 4th or early 5th century to the 8th century.  They are written with a Brahmic script, similar to that used for Sanskrit, which appears in the Tarim Basin l by about the 2nd century, and we were able to translate them because many of the texts were copies of Buddhist scripture, which greatly helped scholars in deciphering the languages.  These two languages were fascinating because they represented an as-yet undiscovered branch of the Indo-European language family.  Furthermore, when compared to other Indo-European languages, they did not show nearly as much similarity with their neighbors as with languages on the far western end of the Indo-European language family.  That is to say they were thought to be closer to Celtic and Italic languages than something like Indo-Iranian.  And now for a quick diversion within the diversion:  “Centum” and “Satem” are general divisions of the Indo-European language families that was once thought to indicate a geographic divide in the languages.  At its most basic, as Indo-European words changed over time, a labiovelar sound, something like “kw”,  tended to evolve in one of two ways.  In the Celtic and Italic languages, the “kw” went to a hard “k” sound, as represented in the classical pronunciation of the Latin word for 100:  Centum.  That same word, in the Avestan language—of the Indo-Iranian tree—is pronounced as “Satem”, with an “S” sound.  So, you can look at Indo-European languages and divide them generally into “centum” languages, which preserve the hard “k”, or “Satem” languages that preserve the S. With me so far? Getting back to these two newly-found languages in the Tarim Basin, the weird thing is that they were “Centum” languages. Most Centum languages are from pretty far away, though: they are generally found in western Europe or around the Mediterranean, as opposed to the Satem languages, such as Indo-Aryan, Iranian, Armernian, or even Baltic Slavic languages, which are much closer to the Tarim Basin.  So if the theory were true that the “Centum” family of Indo-European languages developed in the West and “Satem” languages developed in the East, then that would seem to indicate that a group of a “Centum” speaking people must have migrated eastward, through the various Satem speaking people, and settled in the Tarim Basin many thousands of years ago. And what evidence do we have of people who look very different from the modern population, living in the Tarim Basin area long before, and wearing clothing similar to what we associated with the progenitors of the Celts?  For many, it seemed to be somewhat obvious, if still incredible, that the speakers of this language were likely the descendants of the mummies who, in the terminology of the time, had been identified as being of Caucasoid ancestry.  A theory developed that these people were an offshoot of a group called the Yamnaya culture, which may have arisen around modern Ukraine as an admixture between the European Hunter Gatherers and the Caucasian Hunter Gatherers, around 3300-2600 BCE.  This was challenged in 2021 when a genetic study was performed on some of the mummies in the Tarim basin, as well as several from the Dzungarian basin, to the northeast.  That study suggested that the people of the Dzungarian basin had genetic ties to the people of the Afanasievo people, from Southern Siberia.  The Afanasievo people are connected to the Yamnayan culture. It should be noted that there has long been a fascination in Western anthropology and related sciences with racial identification—and often not in a healthy way.  As you may recall, the Ainu were identified as “Caucasoid” by some people largely because of things like the men's beards and lighter colored hair, which differ greatly from a large part of the Japanese population.  However, that claim has been repeatedly refuted and debunked. And similarly, the truth is, none of these Tarim mummy burials were in a period of written anything, so we can't conclusively associated them with these fascinating Indo-European languages.  There are thousands of years between the various burials and the manuscripts. These people  left no notes stashed in pockets that give us their life story.   And Language is not Genetics is not Culture.  Any group may adopt a given language for a variety of reasons.  .  Still, given what we know, it is possible that the ancient people of the Tarim basin spoke some form of “Proto-Kuchean”, but it is just as likely that this language was brought in by people from Dzungaria at some point. So why does all this matter to us?  Well, remember how we were talking about someone from Tukara?  The Kuchean language, at least, is referred to in an ancient Turkic source as belonging to “Twgry”, which led several scholars to draw a link between this and the kingdom and people called Tukara and the Tokharoi.  This leads us on another bit of a chase through history. Now if you recall, back in Episode 79, we talked about Zhang Qian.  In 128 BCE, he attempted to cross the Silk Road through the territory of the Xiongnu on a mission for the Han court.  Some fifty years earlier, the Xiongnu had defeated the Yuezhi.  They held territory in the oasis towns along the north of the Taklamakan dessert, from about the Turpan basin west to the Pamirs. The Xiongnu were causing problems for the Han, who thought that if they could contact the remaining Yuezhi they could make common cause with them and harass the Xiongnu from both sides.  Zhang Qian's story is quite remarkable: he started out with an escort of some 99 men and a translator.  Unfortunately, he was captured and enslaved by the Xiongnu during his journey, and he is even said to have had a wife and fathered a child.  He remained a captive for thirteen years, but nonetheless, he was able to escape with his family and he made it to the Great Yuezhi on the far side of the Pamirs, but apparently the Yuezhi weren't interested in a treaty against the Xiongnu.  The Pamirs were apparently enough of a barrier and they were thriving in their new land.  And so Zhang Qian crossed back again through Xiongnu territory, this time taking the southern route around the Tarim basin.  He was still captured by the Xiongnu, who spared his life.  He escaped, again, two years later, returning to the Han court.  Of the original 100 explorers, only two returned: Zhang Qian and his translator.  While he hadn't obtained an alliance, he was able to detail the cultures of the area of the Yuezhi. Many feel that the Kushan Empire, which is generally said to have existed from about 30 to 375 CE,was formed from the Kushana people who were part of the Yuezhi who fled the Xiongnu. In other words, they were originally from further north, around the Tarim Basin, and had been chased out and settled down in regions that included Bactria (as in the Bactrian camel).  Zhang Qian describes reaching the Dayuan Kingdom in the Ferghana valley, then traveling south to an area that was the home of the Great Yuezhi or Da Yuezhi.  And after the Kushan empire fell, we know there was a state in the upper regions of the Oxus river, centered on the city of Balkh, in the former territory of the Kushan empire. known as “Tokara”.  Geographically, this matches up how Zhang Qian described the home of the Da Yuezhi.  Furthermore, some scholars reconstruct the reading of the Sinic characters used for “Yuezhi” as originally having an optional reading of something like “Togwar”, but that is certainly not the most common reconstructed reading of those characters.  Greek sources describe this area as the home of the Tokharoi, or the Tokaran People.  The term “Tukhara” is also found in Sanskrit, and this kingdom  was also said to have sent ambassadors to the Southern Liang and Tang dynasties. We aren't exactly certain of where these Tokharan people came from, but as we've just described, there's a prevailing theory that they were the remnants of the Yuezhi and Kushana people originally from the Tarim Basin.  We know that in the 6th century they came under the rule of the Gokturk Khaganate, which once spanned from the Liao river basin to the Black Sea.  In the 7th and 8th centuries they came under the rule of the Tang Empire, where they were known by very similar characters as those used to write “Tukara” in the Nihon Shoki.  On top of this, we see Tokharans traveling the Silk Road, all the way to the Tang court.  Furthermore, Tokharans that settled in Chang'an took the surname “Zhi” from the ethnonym “Yuezhi”, seemingly laying claim to and giving validation to the identity used back in the Han dynasty.   So, we have a Turkic record describing the Kuchean people (as in, from Kucha in the Tarim Basin) as “Twgry”, and we have a kingdom in Bactria called Tokara and populated (according to the Greeks) by people called Tokharoi.  You can see how this one term has been a fascinating rabbit hole in the study of the Silk Roads and their history.  And some scholars understandably suggested that perhaps the Indo-European languags found in Kucha and Turpan  were actually related to this “Tokhara” – and therefore  should be called “Tocharian”, specifically Tocharian A (Kuchean) or Tocharian B (Turfanian). The problem is that if the Tokharans were speaking “Tocharian” then you wouldn't expect to just see it at Kucha and Turpan, which are about the middle of the road between Tokhara and the Tang dynasty, and which had long been under Gokturk rule.  You would also expect to see it in the areas of Bactria associated with Tokhara.  However, that isn't what we see.  Instead, we see that Bactria was the home of local Bactrian language—an Eastern Iranian language, which, though it is part of the Indo European language family, it is not closely related to Tocharian as far as we can tell. It is possible that the people of Kucha referred to themselves as something similar to “Twgry”, or “Tochari”, but we should also remember that comes from a Turkic source, and it could have been an exonym not related to what they called themselves.  I should also note that language is not people.  It is also possible that a particular ethnonym was maintained separately by two groups that may have been connected politically but which came to speak different languages for whatever reason.   There could be a connection between the names, or it could even be that the same or similar exonym was used for different groups. So, that was a lot and a bit of a ramble, but a lot of things that I find interesting—even if they aren't as connected as they may appear.  We have the Tarim mummies, which are, today, held at a museum in modern Urumqi.  Whether they had any connection with Europe or not, they remain a fascinating study for the wealth of material items found in and around the Tarim basin and similar locations.  And then there is the saga of the Tocharian languages—or perhaps more appropriately the Kuchean-Turfanian languages: Indo-European languages that seem to be well outside of where we would expect to find them. Finally, just past the Pamirs, we get to the land of Tokhara or Tokharistan.  Even without anything else, we know that they had contact with the court.  Perhaps our castaways were from this land?  The name is certainly similar to what we see in the Nihon Shoki, using some of the same characters. All in all, art and other information suggest that the area of the Tarim basin and the Silk Road in general were quite cosmopolitan, with many different people from different regions of the world.  Bactria retained Hellenic influences ever since the conquests of Alexander of Macedonia, aka Alexander the Great, and Sogdian and Persian traders regularly brought their caravans through the region to trade.  And once the Tang dynasty controlled all of the routes, that just made travel that much easier, and many people traveled back and forth. So from that perspective, it is possible that one or more people from Tukhara may have made the crossing from their home all the way to the Tang court, but if they did so, the question still remains: why would they be in a boat? Utilizing overland routes, they would have hit Chang'an or Louyang, the dual capitals of the Tang empire, well before they hit the ocean.  However, the Nihon Shoki says that these voyagers first came ashore at Amami and then later says that they were trying to get to the Tang court. Now there was another “Silk Road” that isn't as often mentioned: the sea route, following the coast of south Asia, around through the Malacca strait and north along the Asian coast.  This route is sometimes viewed more in terms of the “spice” road If these voyagers set out to get to the Tang court by boat, they would have to have traveled south to the Indian Ocean—possibly traveling through Shravasti or Sha'e, depending on the route they chose to take—and then around the Malacca strait—unless they made it on foot all the way to Southeast Asia.  And then they would have taken a boat up the coast. Why do that instead of taking the overland route?  They could likely have traveled directly to the Tang court over the overland silk road.  Even the from Southeast Asia could have traveled up through Yunnan and made their way to the Tang court that way.  In fact, Zhang Qian had wondered something similar when he made it to the site of the new home of the Yuezhi, in Bactria.  Even then, in the 2nd century, he saw products in the marketplace that he identified as coming from around Szechuan.  That would mean south of the Han dynasty, and he couldn't figure out how those trade routes might exist and they weren't already known to the court.  Merchants would have had to traverse the dangerous mountains if they wanted to avoid being caught by the Xiongnu, who controlled the entire region. After returning to the Han court, Zhang Qian actually went out on another expedition to the south, trying to find the southern trade routes, but apparently was not able to do so.  That said, we do see, in later centuries, the trade routes open up between the area of the Sichuan basin and South Asia.  We also see the migrations of people further south, and there may have even been some Roman merchants who traveled up this route to find their way to the Han court, though those accounts are not without their own controversy. In either case, whether by land or sea, these trade routes were not always open.  In some cases, seasonal weather, such as monsoons, might dictate movement back and forth, while political realities were also a factor.  Still, it is worth remembering that even though most people were largely concerned with affairs in their own backyard, the world was still more connected than people give it credit for.  Tang dynasty pottery made its way to the east coast of Africa, and ostriches were brought all the way to Chang'an. As for the travelers from Tukhara and why they would take this long and very round-about method of travel, it is possible that they were just explorers, seeking new routes, or even on some kind of pilgrimage.  Either way, they would have been way off course. But if they did pass through Southeast Asia, that would match up with another theory about what “Tukara” meant: that it actually refers to the Dvaravati kingdom in what is now modern Thailand.  The Dvaravati Kingdom was a Mon political entity that rose up around the 6th century.  It even sent embassies to the Sui and Tang courts.  This is even before the temple complexes in Siem Reap, such as Preah Ko and the more famous Angkor Wat.  And it was during this time that the ethnic Tai people are thought to have started migrating south from Yunnan, possibly due to pressures from the expanding Sui and Tang empires.  Today, most of what remains of the Dvaravati kingdom are the ruins of ancient stone temples, showing a heavy Indic influence, and even early Buddhist practices as well.  “Dvaravati” may not actually be the name of the kingdom but it comes from an inscription on a coin found from about that time.  The Chinese refer to it as  “To-lo-po-ti” in contemporary records.  It may not even have been a kingdom, but  more of a confederation of city-states—it is hard to piece everything together.  That it was well connected, though, is clear from the archaeological record.  In Dvaravati sites, we see coins from as far as Rome, and we even have a lamp found in modern Pong Tuk that appears to match similar examples from the Byzantine Empire in the 6th century.  Note that this doesn't mean it arrived in the 6th century—similarly with the coins—but the Dvaravati state lasted until the 12th century. If that was the case, perhaps there were some women from a place called “Shravasti” or similar, especially given the Indic influence in the region. Now, given the location of the Dvaravati, it wouldn't be so farfetched to think that someone might sail up from the Gulf of Thailand and end up off-course, though it does mean sailing up the entire Ryukyuan chain or really running off course and finding yourself adrift on the East China sea.  And if they were headed to the Tang court, perhaps they did have translators or knew Chinese, since Yamato was unlikely to know the Mon language of Dvaravati and people from Dvaravati probably wouldn't know the Japonic language.  Unless, perhaps, they were communicating through Buddhist priests via Sanskrit. We've now heard two possibilities for Tukara, both pretty far afield: the region of Tokara in Bactria, and the Dvaravati kingdom in Southeast Asia.  That said, the third and simplest explanation—and the one favored by Aston in his translation of the Nihon Shoki—is that Tukara is actually referring to a place in the Ryukyu island chain.  Specifically, there is a “Tokara” archipelago, which spans between Yakushima and Amami-Oshima.  This is part of the Nansei islands, and the closest part of the Ryukyuan island chain to the main Japanese archipelago.  This is the most likely theory, and could account for the entry talking about Amami.  It is easy to see how sailors could end up adrift, too far north, and come to shore in Hyuga, aka Himuka, on the east side of Kyushu.  It certainly would make more sense for them to be from this area of the Ryukyuan archipelago than from anywhere else.  From Yakushima to Amami-Oshima is the closest part of the island chain to Kyushu, and as we see in the entry from the Shoku Nihongi, those three places seem to have been connected as being near to Japan.  So what was going on down there, anyway? Well, first off, let's remember that the Ryukyuan archipelago is not just the island of Okinawa, but a series of islands that go from Kyushu all the way to the island of Taiwan.  Geographically speaking, they are all part of the same volcanic ridge extending southward.  The size of the islands and their distance from each other does vary, however, creating some natural barriers in the form of large stretches of open water, which have shaped how various groups developed on the islands. Humans came to the islands around the same time they were reaching the Japanese mainland.  In fact, some of our only early skeletal remains for early humans in Japan actually come from either the Ryukyuan peninsula in the south or around Hokkaido to the north, and that has to do with the acidity of the soil in much of mainland Japan. Based on genetic studies, we know that at least two groups appear to have inhabited the islands from early times.  One group appears to be related to the Jomon people of Japan, while the other appears to be more related to the indigenous people of Taiwan, who, themselves, appear to have been the ancestors of many Austronesian people.  Just as some groups followed islands to the south of Taiwan, some appear to have headed north.  However, they only made it so far.  As far as I know there is no evidence they made it past Miyakoshima, the northernmost island in the Sakishima islands.  Miyako island is separated from the next large island, Okinawa, by a large strait, known as the Miyako Strait, though sometimes called the Kerama gap in English.  It is a 250km wide stretch of open ocean, which is quite the distance for anyone to travel, even for Austronesian people of Taiwan, who had likely not developed the extraordinary navigational technologies that the people who would become the Pacific Islanders would discover. People on the Ryukyu island chain appear to have been in contact with the people of the Japanese archipelago since at least the Jomon period, and some of the material artifacts demonstrate a cultural connection.  That was likely impacted by the Akahoya eruption, about 3500 years ago, and then re-established at a later date.  We certainly see sea shells and corals trade to the people of the Japanese islands from fairly early on. Unlike the people on the Japanese archipelago, the people of the Ryukyuan archipelago did not really adopt the Yayoi and later Kofun culture.  They weren't building large, mounded tombs, and they retained the character of a hunter-gatherer society, rather than transitioning to a largely agricultural way of life.  The pottery does change in parts of Okinawa, which makes sense given the connections between the regions.  Unfortunately, there is a lot we don't know about life in the islands around this time.  We don't exactly have written records, other than things like the entries in the Nihon Shoki, and those are hardly the most detailed of accounts.  In the reign of Kashikiya Hime, aka Suiko Tennou, we see people from Yakushima, which is, along with Tanegashima, one of the largest islands at the northern end of the Ryukyu chain, just before you hit Kagoshima and the Osumi peninsula on the southern tip of Kyushu.  The islands past that would be the Tokara islands, until you hit the large island of Amami. So you can see how it would make sense that the people from “Tokara” would make sense to be from the area between Yakushima and Amami, and in many ways this explanation seems too good to be true.  There are a only a few things that make this a bit peculiar. First, this doesn't really explain the woman from “Sha'e” in any compelling way that I can see.  Second, the name, Kenzuhashi Tatsuna doesn't seem to fit with what we generally know about early Japonic names, and the modern Ryukyuan language certainly is a Japonic language, but there are still plenty of possible explanations.  There is also the connection of Tokara with “Tokan”, which is mentioned in an entry in 699 in the Shoku Nihongi, the Chronicle that follows on, quite literally to the Nihon Shoki.  Why would they call it “Tokan” instead of “Tokara” so soon after?  Also, why would these voyagers go back to their country by way of the Tang court?  Unless, of course, that is where they were headed in the first place.  In which case, did the Man from Tukara intentionally leave his wife in Yamato, or was she something of a hostage while they continued on their mission?   And so those are the theories.  The man from “Tukara” could be from Tokhara, or Tokharistan, at the far end of the Silk Road.  Or it could have been referring to the Dvaravati Kingdom, in modern Thailand.  Still, in the end, Occam's razor suggests that the simplest answer is that these were actually individuals from the Tokara islands in the Ryukyuan archipelago.  It is possible that they were from Amami, not that they drifted there.  More likely, a group from Amami drifted ashore in Kyushu as they were trying to find a route to the Tang court, as they claimed.  Instead they found themselves taking a detour to the court of Yamato, instead. And we could have stuck with that story, but I thought that maybe, just maybe, this would be a good time to reflect once again on how connected everything was.  Because even if they weren't from Dvaravati, that Kingdom was still trading with Rome and with the Tang.  And the Tang controlled the majority of the overland silk road through the Tarim basin.  We even know that someone from Tukhara made it to Chang'an, because they were mentioned on a stele that talked about an Asian sect of Christianity, the “Shining Religion”, that was praised and allowed to set up shop in the Tang capital, along with Persian Manicheans and Zoroastrians.  Regardless of where these specific people may have been from, the world was clearly growing only more connected, and prospering, as well. Next episode we'll continue to look at how things were faring between the archipelago and the continent. Until then thank you for listening and for all of your support. If you like what we are doing, please tell your friends and feel free to rate us wherever you listen to podcasts.  If you feel the need to do more, and want to help us keep this going, we have information about how you can donate on Patreon or through our KoFi site, ko-fi.com/sengokudaimyo, or find the links over at our main website,  SengokuDaimyo.com/Podcast, where we will have some more discussion on topics from this episode. Also, feel free to reach out to our Sengoku Daimyo Facebook page.  You can also email us at the.sengoku.daimyo@gmail.com.  Thank you, also, to Ellen for their work editing the podcast. And that's all for now.  Thank you again, and I'll see you next episode on Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.  

The Romani people, also known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group[74][75][76] who traditionally lived a nomadic, itinerant lifestyle. Linguistic and genetic evidence suggests that the Romani people originated in the Indian subcontinent, in particular the region of Rajasthan.[77] Although they are widely dispersed, their most concentrated populations are believed to be in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia.[85][86][87] Romani slaves were first shipped to the Americas with Columbus in 1498.[94] Spain sent Romani slaves to their Louisiana colony between 1762 and 1800.[95] An Afro-Romani community exists in St. Martin Parish due to intermarriage between freed African American and Romani slaves.[96] The Romani population in the United States is estimated at more than one million.[l] When Hedgehogs Collide! ----- Gotta Talk Fast is an oral review of Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog. Way past cool. LINKS: https://gottatalkfast.com/

The Daily Quiz - Entertainment, Society and Culture Today's Questions: Question 1: Which actor has starred in films including The Matrix and Bram Stoker's Dracula? Question 2: Which of these quotes is from the film 'The Hunger Games'? Question 3: Which of these Indian languages falls into the "Indo-Aryan" language family? Question 4: Which of these quotes is from the film 'Auntie Mame'? Question 5: Which actress has starred in both Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and American Hustle? Question 6: Which animal would you associate with the Bacardi logo? Question 7: Who was Hercules' stepmother? Question 8: Who is the Norse god of thunder and war? This podcast is produced by Klassic Studios Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“A dense and scholarly book about . . . the relationship between the Nazi party and the occult . . . reveals stranger-than-fiction truths on every page.”—Daily TelegraphThe Nazi fascination with the occult is legendary, yet today it is often dismissed as Himmler's personal obsession or wildly overstated for its novelty. Preposterous though it was, however, supernatural thinking was inextricable from the Nazi project. The regime enlisted astrology and the paranormal, paganism, Indo-Aryan mythology, witchcraft, miracle weapons, and the lost kingdom of Atlantis in reimagining German politics and society and recasting German science and religion.In this eye-opening history, Eric Kurlander reveals how the Third Reich's relationship to the supernatural was far from straightforward. Even as popular occultism and superstition were intermittently rooted out, suppressed, and outlawed, the Nazis drew upon a wide variety of occult practices and esoteric sciences to gain power, shape propaganda and policy, and pursue their dreams of racial utopia and empire.“[Kurlander] shows how swiftly irrational ideas can take hold, even in an age before social media.”—The Washington Post“Deeply researched, convincingly authenticated, this extraordinary study of the magical and supernatural at the highest levels of Nazi Germany will astonish.”—The Spectator“A trustworthy [book] on an extraordinary subject.”—The Times“A fascinating look at a little-understood aspect of fascism.”—Kirkus Reviews“Kurlander provides a careful, clear-headed, and exhaustive examination of a subject so lurid that it has probably scared away some of the serious research it merits.”—National ReviewBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

The Indians is a collection of essays by some of South Asia's foremost historians and scholars that maps the origins, evolution, and present-day reality of India's civilisation and people. The collection covers a period of some 12,000 years-from the last Ice Age to the twenty-first century. The book is divided into seven sections - the first part looks at the evolution of humans in South Asia through the lens of the early 'Indian' population, their migrations, and the climate. The second part focuses on the emergence of different civilisations in the region through the domestication of plants and animals and other factors and how these civilisations eventually begin to decline. The third part discusses the languages and philosophies that defined ancient India-Buddhism, Jainism, Sanskrit, Indo-Iranian languages, and Pali literature, among others. The fourth part is a detailed study of society and culture in various geographical regions--the North, South, Northeast, the Deccan, East, and West India. The fifth part looks at the advent of colonialism and its impact on the country's economy, social fabric, and knowledge systems. The sixth part looks at Adivasi movements, Ambedkarite politics, Gandhian resistance, and other events that would come to form the bedrock of the independent republic. And, finally, the seventh part looks at contemporary India--the workings of the Constitution and urbanism, liberalisation, and other aspects of the modern Indian experience. Taken together, the essays in the book provide remarkable insights into Indian history and society. An attempt has been made to reflect these sections to an extent in this seven part series. This BIC Talks mini series - Histories of a Civilisation - glimpses into the collection, presenting readings from selected essays, interspersed with conversations with the scholar who wrote them, providing a sampling of the various topical discourses that cover the epochs of the subcontinent and hopes to encourage our listeners to take a deep dive into what makes the Indians. In this third part of the series, linguist Anvita Abbi talks about the language families of India other than Indo-Aryan. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible and Amazon Music.

My guest today is Razib Khan. Razib is a population geneticist, writer, and entrepreneur. He is a prominent voice in the realm of genetic genealogy, where he illuminates the interplay of genes, history, and culture. His writing has been featured in the New York Times, India Today, the National Review, and his scholarly work is cited in many scientific journals. Razib also has a very interesting Substack called "Unsupervised Learning". In this episode, we talk about commercial genetic testing companies like 23andMe. We talk about the genetic histories of regions like Russia, China, Ashkenazis and Madagasy. We also talk about the Indo-Aryan connection. We talk about whether race is a social construct. We discuss the concept of epigenetics and so-called inherited trauma. We talk about what Cleopatra really looked like and more. I hope you all enjoyed this conversation as much as I did. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guest today is Razib Khan. Razib is a population geneticist, writer, and entrepreneur. He is a prominent voice in the realm of genetic genealogy, where he illuminates the interplay of genes, history, and culture. His writing has been featured in the New York Times, India Today, the National Review, and his scholarly work is cited in many scientific journals. Razib also has a very interesting Substack called "Unsupervised Learning".In this episode, we talk about commercial genetic testing companies like 23andMe. We talk about the genetic histories of regions like Russia, China, Ashkenazis and Madagasy. We also talk about the Indo-Aryan connection. We talk about whether race is a social construct. We discuss the concept of epigenetics and so-called inherited trauma. We talk about what Cleopatra really looked like and more. I hope you all enjoyed this conversation as much as I did.

My guest today is Razib Khan. Razib is a population geneticist, writer, and entrepreneur. He is a prominent voice in the realm of genetic genealogy, where he illuminates the interplay of genes, history, and culture. His writing has been featured in the New York Times, India Today, the National Review, and his scholarly work is cited in many scientific journals. Razib also has a very interesting Substack called "Unsupervised Learning".In this episode, we talk about commercial genetic testing companies like 23andMe. We talk about the genetic histories of regions like Russia, China, Ashkenazis and Madagasy. We also talk about the Indo-Aryan connection. We talk about whether race is a social construct. We discuss the concept of epigenetics and so-called inherited trauma. We talk about what Cleopatra really looked like and more. I hope you all enjoyed this conversation as much as I did.

Renowned author and Sahitya Akademi awardee Damodar Mauzo engages in a conversation with author and playwright Vivek Shanbhag discuss Mauzo's collection of 14 stories titled "Teresa's Man and Other Stories from Goa." These tales provide a profound glimpse into the world of Goan-Konkani literature, a realm shaped by both remarkable achievements and challenges. Konkani, considered the "oldest of modern Indo-Aryan tongues," has faced various obstacles throughout its history. It has encountered persistent pressure from dominant regional languages like Marathi and Kannada, and it endured violent suppression during the Inquisition years in Goa from 1560 to 1812. The language struggled for survival amidst waves of diaspora and underwent a fervent postcolonial agitation. Eventually, in 1992, Konkani gained official recognition as a language under the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution. Within "Teresa's Man," Mauzo skillfully captures the essence of Goa and its Konkani-speaking population. These stories, translated from Konkani to English by Xavier Cota, offer a blend of local flavour and universal themes that evoke a range of emotions and ideas. In this episode, adapted from a session at Bangalore Literature Festival 2022, Mauzo and Shanbhag delve into the inspirations, characters, and themes that shape the collection. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast and Stitcher.

Join Mukunda as he speaks with Ashish Kulkarni, better known on Twitter as @agenetics1, he

If you enjoy the podcast, please rate and review on Apple or Podchaser About Sunaina: Sunaina Madhav Dasi (they/them) is a multidimensional human that holds many identities. They immigrated from Bangalore, India to the States in 1996 and are currently settled on the ancestral lands of the Arapaho, Cheyenne and Ute Nations. Sunaina is a mixed race person (Indo-Aryan and Dravidian) and speaks Tamil as their mother-tongue. Their yoga practice is deeply rooted in Hinduism, Bhakti and social justice. They follow the lineage and teachings of their ancestors and Sri Paramahamsa Vishwananda as they took initiation into Hari Bhakta Sampradaya. Sunaina uses their neurodivergent superpowers to create a more community-centered world that focuses on individual healing by embracing one's unique purpose. They believe that the answer is already within us when we choose self-love, accountability and awareness. With their unique lens of the yogic path, Sunaina creates spaces to reclaim traditional practices, decolonize minds and abolish oppressive systems that affect us at an energetic and societal level. Outside of their practice they enjoy modeling, photography, dancing and directing photo shoots. Sunaina's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/su9nah/ Listen to the full bonus episode by subscribing to our Substack for $5 a month. Follow us on social media Twitter: @ThoughtfulWRPod Instagram: @ThoughtfulWellnessRevolution Theme song: Katy Pearson

“A dense and scholarly book about . . . the relationship between the Nazi party and the occult . . . reveals stranger-than-fiction truths on every page.”—Daily Telegraph The Nazi fascination with the occult is legendary, yet today it is often dismissed as Himmler's personal obsession or wildly overstated for its novelty. Preposterous though it was, however, supernatural thinking was inextricable from the Nazi project. The regime enlisted astrology and the paranormal, paganism, Indo-Aryan mythology, witchcraft, miracle weapons, and the lost kingdom of Atlantis in reimagining German politics and society and recasting German science and religion. In this eye-opening history, Eric Kurlander reveals how the Third Reich's relationship to the supernatural was far from straightforward. Even as popular occultism and superstition were intermittently rooted out, suppressed, and outlawed, the Nazis drew upon a wide variety of occult practices and esoteric sciences to gain power, shape propaganda and policy, and pursue their dreams of racial utopia and empire. “[Kurlander] shows how swiftly irrational ideas can take hold, even in an age before social media.”—The Washington Post “Deeply researched, convincingly authenticated, this extraordinary study of the magical and supernatural at the highest levels of Nazi Germany will astonish.”—The Spectator “A trustworthy [book] on an extraordinary subject.”—The Times “A fascinating look at a little-understood aspect of fascism.”—Kirkus Reviews “Kurlander provides a careful, clear-headed, and exhaustive examination of a subject so lurid that it has probably scared away some of the serious research it merits.”—National Review

“A dense and scholarly book about . . . the relationship between the Nazi party and the occult . . . reveals stranger-than-fiction truths on every page.”—Daily Telegraph The Nazi fascination with the occult is legendary, yet today it is often dismissed as Himmler's personal obsession or wildly overstated for its novelty. Preposterous though it was, however, supernatural thinking was inextricable from the Nazi project. The regime enlisted astrology and the paranormal, paganism, Indo-Aryan mythology, witchcraft, miracle weapons, and the lost kingdom of Atlantis in reimagining German politics and society and recasting German science and religion. In this eye-opening history, Eric Kurlander reveals how the Third Reich's relationship to the supernatural was far from straightforward. Even as popular occultism and superstition were intermittently rooted out, suppressed, and outlawed, the Nazis drew upon a wide variety of occult practices and esoteric sciences to gain power, shape propaganda and policy, and pursue their dreams of racial utopia and empire. “[Kurlander] shows how swiftly irrational ideas can take hold, even in an age before social media.”—The Washington Post “Deeply researched, convincingly authenticated, this extraordinary study of the magical and supernatural at the highest levels of Nazi Germany will astonish.”—The Spectator “A trustworthy [book] on an extraordinary subject.”—The Times “A fascinating look at a little-understood aspect of fascism.”—Kirkus Reviews “Kurlander provides a careful, clear-headed, and exhaustive examination of a subject so lurid that it has probably scared away some of the serious research it merits.”—National Review

Sunaina Madhav Dasi is a multidimensional human that holds many identities. They immigrated from Bangalore, India in 1996 and identify as a mixed race person (Indo-Aryan and Dravidian) who speaks Tamil as their mother-tongue. Their yoga practice is deeply rooted in Hinduism, Bhakti and social justice in which they create a more community-centered world that focuses on individual healing by embracing one's unique purpose. They believe that the answer is already within us when we choose self-love, accountability and awareness. In the episode, we talk to Sunaina about their heritage and how it has directly impacted their identity. We also discuss body hair as self-love and self-expression, as well as what it means to give someone's heart to The Divine. Sunaina shares about a very powerful experience they had during a yoga practice, and how they aim to choose simplicity everyday. This episode is truly conscious expanding! Key Points The Divine Yoga Nidra Body Hair Demi-sexual Polyamorous Eyebrow threading Hinduism Child of Immigrants Show Notes See all of Sunaina's offerings here Follow Sunaia on Instagram @su9nah Elemental Archetypes – Daoist self-cultivation practices Yang Face — Chinese facial tool line honoring Chinese culture and tradition Thank you to Diana Ho for the production and research coordination! Connect with us! If you enjoyed this episode, share it and tag us — We'd love to hear from you! To support us decode beauty in a beauty obsessed culture, please subscribe, rate and review the show. Follow us on Instagram @BeautyBirthrightPod

Richard Karp is an author and academic living in London. He discusses his new book, Oriya: A SURVEY OF A SLY LANGUAGE, in which he looks at the history and influence of Oriya, a southwestern Indo-Aryan language.

We're back with Season 3 Episode 2, welcome our next guest Sunaina Madhav Dasi, a multidimensional yoga teacher, model, and artivist. You won't want to miss this rich conversation because Sunaina, a dedicated lineage follower, talks about their experience with yoga and spirituality. Zahra and Hien ask some questions about the process for initiation, ritual, practices, and more. Sunaina tells us their firsthand experience entering a lineage, as well as the mysical and synchonisitic experiences that led them on their path. We learn more about specific to Sunaina's lineage as well as their thoughts on traditonalism versus modernism, when it comes to carrying on these practices. Sunaina tells us about their mission to make these practices accessible for the people who've been barred from learning their ancestral traditions. Sunaina talks to us about the 3 S's that guide their path, which you can learn more about in this episode. And the grace we must have for ourselves throughout our journey. We talk what it mean to bring a child into the world in 2022 as Sunaina prepares to do so themselves. And Hien and Zahra wrap up by sharing their awe for Sunaina after their conversation. If you're into yoga and spirituality, it's an episode you won't want to miss! About Sunaina: Sunaina Madhav Dasi (they/them) is a multidimensional human that holds many identities. They immigrated from Bangalore, India to the States in 1996 and are currently settled on the ancestral lands of the Arapaho, Cheyenne and Ute Nations. Sunaina is a mixed race person (Indo-Aryan and Dravidian) and speaks Tamil as their mother-tongue. Their yoga practice is deeply rooted in Hinduism, Bhakti and social justice. They follow the lineage and teachings of their ancestors and Sri Paramahamsa Vishwananda as they took initiation into Hari Bhakta Sampradaya. Sunaina uses their neurodivergent superpowers to create a more community-centered world that focuses on individual healing by embracing one's unique purpose. They believe that the answer is already within us when we choose self-love, accountability and awareness. With their unique lens of the yogic path, Sunaina creates spaces to reclaim traditional practices, decolonize minds and abolish oppressive systems that affect us at an energetic and societal level. Outside of their practice they enjoy modeling, photography, dancing and directing photo shoots. Sunaina's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/su9nah/ For transcripts and bonus content, check out our Substack https://thoughtfulwellnessrevolution.substack.com/ Follow us on social media Twitter: http://twitter.com/ThoughtfulWRPod Instagram: http://instagram.com/ThoughtfulWellnessRevolution Theme song: Katy Pearson  

Abhishek Avtans talks about the apabhraṃśa, a word that refers to the middle stage of the Indo-Aryan languages, crucial links between ancient languages like Sanskrit, and modern South Asian languages such as Hindi, Bangla, Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Marathi, Nepali, and others. The first mention of apabhraṃśas is in Mahabhasya, a 2nd century BCE text by Patanjali, where the author refers to languages considered deviations from Sanskrit. However, research into apabhraṃśas, for the same reason, has become crucial in dispelling notions of linguistic purity and politics that is dependent on these notions. Abhishek Avtans is a lecturer of Indic language/s at Leiden University in the Netherlands. He loves to work on literature and linguistics of languages spoken in south Asia. He has contributed in making dictionaries of Great Andamanese, Bhojpuri and Brajbhasha. He writes a column Dialectical for the Himal SouthAsian Magazine. He tweets at @avtansa. Image: © 2021 Saronik Bosu (the stanza of verse in the image comes from the text of Bāhubalī rāsa by 13th Century AD Jain poet Shalibhadra Suri, it is an onomatopoeic stanza that describes the activities done by elephants, soldiers and horses.) Music used in promotional material: “Rajasthani Folk Instrumental Music” by Rupayan Sansthan, Jodhpur, from the collection of Shri Komal Kothari Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Abhishek Avtans talks about the apabhraṃśa, a word that refers to the middle stage of the Indo-Aryan languages, crucial links between ancient languages like Sanskrit, and modern South Asian languages such as Hindi, Bangla, Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Marathi, Nepali, and others. The first mention of apabhraṃśas is in Mahabhasya, a 2nd century BCE text by Patanjali, where the author refers to languages considered deviations from Sanskrit. However, research into apabhraṃśas, for the same reason, has become crucial in dispelling notions of linguistic purity and politics that is dependent on these notions. Abhishek Avtans is a lecturer of Indic language/s at Leiden University in the Netherlands. He loves to work on literature and linguistics of languages spoken in south Asia. He has contributed in making dictionaries of Great Andamanese, Bhojpuri and Brajbhasha. He writes a column Dialectical for the Himal SouthAsian Magazine. He tweets at @avtansa. Image: © 2021 Saronik Bosu (the stanza of verse in the image comes from the text of Bāhubalī rāsa by 13th Century AD Jain poet Shalibhadra Suri, it is an onomatopoeic stanza that describes the activities done by elephants, soldiers and horses.) Music used in promotional material: “Rajasthani Folk Instrumental Music” by Rupayan Sansthan, Jodhpur, from the collection of Shri Komal Kothari Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Abhishek Avtans talks about the apabhraṃśa, a word that refers to the middle stage of the Indo-Aryan languages, crucial links between ancient languages like Sanskrit, and modern South Asian languages such as Hindi, Bangla, Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Marathi, Nepali, and others. The first mention of apabhraṃśas is in Mahabhasya, a 2nd century BCE text by Patanjali, where the author refers to languages considered deviations from Sanskrit. However, research into apabhraṃśas, for the same reason, has become crucial in dispelling notions of linguistic purity and politics that is dependent on these notions. Abhishek Avtans is a lecturer of Indic language/s at Leiden University in the Netherlands. He loves to work on literature and linguistics of languages spoken in south Asia. He has contributed in making dictionaries of Great Andamanese, Bhojpuri and Brajbhasha. He writes a column Dialectical for the Himal SouthAsian Magazine. He tweets at @avtansa. Image: © 2021 Saronik Bosu (the stanza of verse in the image comes from the text of Bāhubalī rāsa by 13th Century AD Jain poet Shalibhadra Suri, it is an onomatopoeic stanza that describes the activities done by elephants, soldiers and horses.) Music used in promotional material: “Rajasthani Folk Instrumental Music” by Rupayan Sansthan, Jodhpur, from the collection of Shri Komal Kothari Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/south-asian-studies

Abhishek Avtans talks about the apabhraṃśa, a word that refers to the middle stage of the Indo-Aryan languages, crucial links between ancient languages like Sanskrit, and modern South Asian languages such as Hindi, Bangla, Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Marathi, Nepali, and others. The first mention of apabhraṃśas is in Mahabhasya, a 2nd century BCE text by Patanjali, where the author refers to languages considered deviations from Sanskrit. However, research into apabhraṃśas, for the same reason, has become crucial in dispelling notions of linguistic purity and politics that is dependent on these notions. Abhishek Avtans is a lecturer of Indic language/s at Leiden University in the Netherlands. He loves to work on literature and linguistics of languages spoken in south Asia. He has contributed in making dictionaries of Great Andamanese, Bhojpuri and Brajbhasha. He writes a column Dialectical for the Himal SouthAsian Magazine. He tweets at @avtansa. Image: © 2021 Saronik Bosu (the stanza of verse in the image comes from the text of Bāhubalī rāsa by 13th Century AD Jain poet Shalibhadra Suri, it is an onomatopoeic stanza that describes the activities done by elephants, soldiers and horses.) Music used in promotional material: “Rajasthani Folk Instrumental Music” by Rupayan Sansthan, Jodhpur, from the collection of Shri Komal Kothari Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/language

Sunaina Madhav Dasi (they/them) is a multidimensional human that holds many identities. They immigrated from Bangalore, India in 1996 and are currently settled on the ancestral lands of the Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Ute Nations. Sunaina is a mixed-race person (Indo-Aryan and Dravidian) and speaks Tamil as their mother tongue. Their yoga practice is deeply rooted in Hinduism, Bhakti, and social justice. They follow the lineage and teachings of their ancestors and Sri Paramahamsa Vishwananda as they took initiation into Hari Bhakta Sampradaya. Sunaina uses their neurodivergent superpowers to create a more community-centered world that focuses on individual healing by embracing one's unique purpose. They believe that the answer is already within us when we choose self-love, accountability, and awareness. With their unique lens of the yogic path, Sunaina creates spaces to reclaim traditional practices, decolonize minds and abolish oppressive systems that affect us at an energetic and societal level. Outside of their practice, they enjoy modeling, photography, dancing, and directing photoshoots! In our conversation, Sunaina talks about their background as well as coming to America. They also talked about their definition of Yoga, which can be different for everyone. Everyone is on their own journey, and what you bring from the heart to your practice is always the best place to start.  The spiritual side of yoga seems to be bypassed, especially in Western yoga, where Asana is the main focus. But for Sunaina, who is deeply rooted in their traditions and Guru's teachings, uses acceptance, fluidity, and yoga philosophy to create a more accepting space for everyone.  Through the teachings of yoga, you can find true liberation. By allowing yourself to be exactly as you are, you can connect with the divine and yourself.  Start the journey now with your free 30-day membership on Omstars.com. Use code: PODCAST.  Keep up with us online @omstarsofficial or follow me on Instagram @kinoyoga. Visit my blog at Kinoyoga.com to learn more.  Don't hesitate to get in touch with me at info@kinoyoga.com. If you want to share what you've learned on your yoga journey, you could be invited to guest spot on The Yoga Inspiration Podcast. 

The Mitanni Empire covered what is now known as Iraq, Turkey Syria, Lebanon,Egypt and included Italy. They were the ancestors of these people. Mitanni were the ancestors of the Egyptians as well. These Kings and even a Roman Emperor sported Thiruman, The Vaishnavite marks on their Body.   The Sun King Akhenaten of Egypt who ruled between 1352-1336 BC was a son-in-law of Tushratta, the Mitanni king. The name Tushratta has been recorded in the Hittite cuneiform script.   Some have suggested that the Sanskrit origin of Tushratta is Dasaratha, a few others that it is Tvesaratha (having splendid chariots), a name which is attested in the Rigveda. “The first Mitanni king was Sutarna I (good sun). He was followed by Baratarna I (or Paratarna great sun), Parasuksatra(ruler with axe),…. Saustatar (Sauksatra, son of Suksatra, the good ruler), Artadama (abiding in cosmic law)..Tushratta (Dasaratha), and finally Matiwazza (Mativaja, whose wealth is thought) during whose lifetime the Mitanni state appears to have become a vassal to Assyria”. Subhash Kak traces the ‘arna' syllable in the names of the kings to ‘araNi' (अरणि) meaning ‘sun'… Akhenaten, Surya, and the Rigveda', Prof Subhash Kak (an Indian American computer scientist, previous Head of Computer Science Department, Oklahoma State University) ‘ “A number of Indo-European sounding words have been identified in the cuneiform documents of the Mitanni kingdom (1500-1200 BC). In addition to nouns and adjectives with parallels in Sanskrit this Hurrian speaking kingdom had kings with Indo-Aryan names and two documents even list the main Gods of the Indian pantheon….”   The kingdom of the Mitanni Indo-Iranian dynasty that ruled in the land of the Hurrians was in the upper Euphrates-Tigris basin – land that is now part of northern Iraq, Syria and south-eastern Turkey. At its greatest extent (for a brief period at the height of its dynastic power), Mitanni territory extended to the Mediterranean coast and into northern Assyria / Mesopotamia, it's south-eastern neighbour. Mitanni's north-western border with theHattian kingdom of the Hittites was fluid and constantly subject to aggression except when the two rivals concluded a peace treaty – one that invoked the Indo-Iranian pantheon of Mitra, Varuna, Indra and the Nasatyas – but also one that marked the decline of the Mitanni kingdom and a decrease in size. The Mitanni and Hittites were closely related. The Hittites used the Hurrian language extensively in their inscriptions. They also shared in the development of the light chariot whose wheels used spokes . The Hurrian lands are today a part of Greater Kurdistan….   Despite Tusratta's problems, he was not beyond offering his daughter Tadukhipa in marriage to the King Amenhotep III of Egypt for a large quantity of gold. The tablet seen to the right is a letter from Tusratta to Amenhotep in which he asks for “gold in very great quantity” as a bride price, supporting his request with the comment, “Gold is as dust in the land of my brother.” The beleaguered Tusratta was then murdered by his son in a palace coup. Tusratta's other son, Prince Shattiwaza, fled Mitanni and was eventually given sanctuary by the Hittite King Suppiluliuma with whom he concluded a treaty c. 1380 BCE, which we know as the Suppiluliuma-Shattiwaza Treaty (discovered in 1907 CE in Hattusa, near present-day Bogazkale(Boğazkale, formerly Bogazköy) in north-central Turkey. In the treaty, the Hittite King Suppiluliuma agreed to assist Shattiwaza gain the Mitanni throne and invaded Mitanni. The Hittites captured the Mitanni capital Wassukanni after a second attempt and installed Shattiwaza as a vassal king. https://ramanisblog.in/2015/06/12/hindu-kings-of-iraq-turkey-syria-lebanon-egypt-italy-mitanni-empire/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ramanispodcast/message

Today's episode is with Maaz Shaikh, a Junior Research Fellow pursuing his Ph.D. at the Centre for Linguistics, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, India. Maaz is an emerging linguist having research interests primarily in language documentation and description, along with language revitalization, phonology, morpho-syntax, and historical linguistics. Last year, Maaz successfully defended his M.Phil. thesis at JNU on his heritage language Azamgarhi—a unique Indo-Aryan language, of which he is a semi-speaker. In this episode we will hear from Maaz on his experiences and opinions of “documenting” a language as an “insider” to the community. Besides his areal interests of his native Indo-Aryan region, he is also now documenting Zangskari, an endangered language of Ladakh (India).  Things mentioned in this episode: Azamgarhi language  Bhojpuri language  Zangskari language Ladakhi language Balti language Hindi language  Urdu language Tibetic language family  Indo-Aryan languages CoRSAL at UNT A special presentation of documented Azamgarhi traditional stories on YouTube   The Azamgarhi Community Resources Facebook Group   The Azamgarhi Language Account on Instagram Maaz on Twitter: @gyani_jahil

Abhishek Avtans talks about the apabhraṃśa, a word that refers to the middle stage of the Indo-Aryan languages, crucial links between ancient languages like Sanskrit, and modern South Asian languages such as Hindi, Bangla, Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Marathi, Nepali, and others. The first mention of apabhraṃśas is in Mahabhasya, a 2nd century BCE text by Patanjali, […]

In this episode we speak with Edwin Bryant about his upcoming course,  YS 205 | Bhakti Yoga: The Bhāgavatapurāṇa and his latest book Bhakti Yoga: Tales and Teachings from the Bhāgavata Purāṇa (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2017). Dr. Bryant regales Seth with stories of hitchhiking through India in his youth while studying Sanskrit and Hindi, and meeting his guru in the holy city of Vrindavan. He also talks about his translation of the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali, his dissertation exploring the Indo-Aryan migration theory, and his upcoming work In Defense of a God with Form.Speaker BioEdwin Bryant received his Ph.D in Indic languages and Cultures from Columbia University. He taught Hinduism at Harvard University for three years, and is presently the professor of Hinduism at Rutgers University where he teaches courses on Hindu philosophy and religion. He has received numerous awards and fellowships, published eight books, and authored a number of articles on the earliest origins of Vedic culture, yoga philosophy, and the Kṛṣṇa tradition. These include Bryant's translation of and commentary on The Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2009), and more recently its sequel entitled Bhakti Yoga: Tales and Teachings from the Bhāgavata Purāṇa (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2017).LinksYS 205 | Bhakti Yoga: The Bhāgavatapurāṇahttps://rutgers.academia.edu/EdwinBryanthttps://www.edwinbryant.com 

You don’t have to agree on everything, just your love. (Rated PG-13 for frequent disagreements and the mention of Linkin Park.) 21:10 | Comedy, Romance LOGLINE In NYC's bustling Union Square, the busy Nani meets her match in Mohit where they discover they may have a difference of opinion on many things but are a perfect pair in all the ways that count. STORYLINE Just like the Whole Foods at Union Square in New York, the love between Nani and Mohit is hard to miss. It wasn’t always love at first fight for these two, as Mohit’s nerdy boy backpack almost made Nani call it all off right from the start. But, one awkward hug and afternoon of book shopping later, these two realize that they actually speak the same language. (Literally, Marathi. But, figuratively, too.) They both love collecting stories, reading books, and find each other engaging and entertaining. Especially when Mohit shows off his karaoke skills and wins the crowd over with his rendition of Linkin Park’s “In the End”. The more time these two spend together the clearer it is to both of them that—while they may not agree on everything—there is something there. Nani is happy and independent. So it takes a guy like Mohit to make it worth leaving her single independence totally behind. For Mohit, he already views Nani like a wife and respects her in all the important ways, even if he also loves annoying her a little bit every day. Now, whether it’s trying to see if they can make it one more hour without a small tiff or just resigning to that “Yes, Dear” moment, these two are committed to living happily ever after in their own special way. PLOT KEYWORDS Love, Dating Podcasts, Romance Podcasts, Couples, Dating, Single, New York City, independence, Union Square, Whole Foods, Mumbai, Linkin Park, opposites, attraction, arguments, couples. QUOTES “I thought he was part annoying and part charming.” —Nani “I enjoy kind of annoying her.” —Mohit “I love spending time with her, and the rest of life can be like that. That’s how we ended up like this.” —Mohit FUN FACT According to Wikipedia, Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken predominantly by around 83 million Marathi people of Maharashtra, India. It is the official language and co-official language in the Maharashtra and Goa states of Western India, respectively and is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India. CREATOR Kassandra M. Pollard WRITERS Nani + Mohit (Story), Kassandra (Script) STARRING Nani, 26, an independent spirit with an infectious laugh who wasn't willing to settle for just anyone Mohit, 31, the guy who enjoys pushing her buttons FEATURING • Melliflousvoice as Nani (Trailer) • Sriram Emani as Mohit (Trailer) • The other guy that hit on Nani during their first date SOUNDTRACKS Music by DanoSong MORE LIKE THIS MEET CUTE ACTUALLY While You Weren’t Sleeping SHOW US SOME LOVE Give us a Review | Follow Us On Instagram | Submit Your Own Story --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/meetcuteactually/message

I have written articles on the connection between Anatolia,(Asia Minor), Mesopotamia, Sumeria and Babylon. They are, Hindu kings of Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and Italy, ‘ Mitanni (/mɪˈtæni/; Hittite cuneiform KUR URUMi-ta-an-ni; alsoMittani Mi-it-ta-ni) or Hanigalbat (Assyrian Hanigalbat, Khanigalbatcuneiform Ḫa-ni-gal-bat) or Naharin in ancient Egyptian texts was a Hurrian-speaking state in northern Syria and southeast Anatoliafrom ca. 1500 BC–1300 BC. Founded by an Indo-Aryan ruling class governing a predominantly Hurrian population, Mitanni came to be a regional power after the Hittite destruction of Amorite[1] Babylon and a series of ineffectual Assyrian kings created a power vacuum in Mesopotamia. The Mittanni was in northern Mesopotamia , roughly from 1500-1300 BC. At its height the empire extended from Kirkuk (ancient Arrapha) and the Zagros Mountains in the east through Assyria to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. …These Kings and evena Roman Emperor sported Thiruman, The Vaishnavite marks on their Body. Mittani, Hitties I had also written on the migration of Shiva with his son Ganesha westwards from the south of Vindhyas, because of a Tsunami. This was the time Lord Rama's ancestor Satyavrata Manu migrated to Ayodhya . Satyavrata manu's son Ikshvaku founded the Sola dynasty, Ikshvaku. The traces of Shiva are found everywhere from the Middle east to the Arctic! The Chola dynasty traces its origins to ikshvaku dynasty of Rama. The story of Chola King Sibi is narrated in the Vishnu Purana, as the ancestor of Rama. Apart from the evidence of Hitties being influenced by the Tamils, it might be possible that the Cholas were in Hittie Kingdom,possibly they had a hand in forming the Hittie Empire. ...,.This is a speculation I have in the light of many of the Hitties customs and the depiction of a chariot  running over a man. In the Tamil Classics, King Manu Needhi Chola ran his son down by his chariot because his son ran over a calf and because the cow had complained of this to him by ringing the bell set up by the king for the people to let him know of their problems! ..It wasn't until explorer Charles Texier stumbled upon ruins he had hoped belonged to an ancient Roman city that history would gradually begin to allow the Hittites to take their rightful place. Texier made his discovery in the isolated village of Bogazköy, in central Anatolia, roughly half way between Ankara and Sivas. The year was 1834. Though he didn't know it at the time, he had in fact discovered the imperial Hittite city of Hattusa. However, the road to understanding the Hittites would prove to be a long one. Stones covered with mysterious hieroglyphs were being discovered in northern Syria and all over Anatolia and they seemed to relate to the hieroglyphs found at the Hattusa site. Archaeologists were beginning to consider the possibility that these hieroglyphs belonged to an ancient forgotten empire. In 1880, English Assyriologist Archibald Sayce shocked the world with his announcement that this empire and the Hittites of the Old Testament were one and the same people. Excavations at the site did not start until 1906, and tablets found in the Hittite's cuneiform language revealed a surprising twist. The language of the Hittites belonged to the Indo-European languages with the Hittite word for water (‘watar') for instance uncannily resembling English and German, leading to speculation that the Hittites may originally have migrated from Europe. Other theories, however, claim that Indo-European languages originated elsewhere, perhaps even in Anatolia itself. Whatever the truth may be, English and a host of other languages can thus be traced back to a single root hidden somewhere in the darkness of prehistory.. ‘Excavations at a mound known as Topraktepe indicate Hittite settlement in the area as early as 2600 BC,https://ramanisblog.in/2015/08/08/sivas-city-turkey-hinduism-tamil-manu-needhi-chola/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ramanispodcast/message

Mittani are the ancient people in Mesopotamia. They were the ancestors of the Egyptians. Look at the Sanatana Dharma connection.   Mitanni (/mɪˈtæni/; Hittite cuneiform KUR URUMi-ta-an-ni; also Mittani Mi-it-ta-ni) or Hanigalbat (Assyrian Hanigalbat, Khanigalbatcuneiform Ḫa-ni-gal-bat) or Naharin in ancient Egyptian texts was a Hurrian-speaking state in northern Syria and southeast Anatoliafrom ca. 1500 BC–1300 BC. Founded by an Indo-Aryan ruling class governing a predominantly Hurrian population, Mitanni came to be a regional power after the Hittite destruction of Amorite[1] Babylon and a series of ineffectual Assyrian kings created a power vacuum in Mesopotamia.   The Mittanni was in northern Mesopotamia , roughly from 1500-1300 BC. At its height the empire extended from Kirkuk (ancient Arrapha) and the Zagros Mountains in the east through Assyria to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.   Mittani Kings, but the Egyptian Pharaohs have also have been known to have a major Indic influence. “The first Mitanni king was Sutarna I (good sun). He was followed by Baratarna I (or Paratarna great sun), Parasuksatra(ruler with axe),…. Saustatar (Sauksatra, son of Suksatra, the good ruler), Artadama (abiding in cosmic law)..Tushratta (Dasaratha), and finally Matiwazza (Mativaja, whose wealth is thought) during whose lifetime the Mitanni state appears to have become a vassal to Assyria”. Subhash Kak traces the ‘arna' syllable in the names of the kings to ‘araNi' (अरणि) meaning ‘sun'… (Akhenaten, Surya, and the Rigveda', Prof Subhash Kak (an Indian American computer scientist, previous Head of Computer Science Department, Oklahoma State University) ‘ “A number of Indo-European sounding words have been identified in the cuneiform documents of the Mitanni kingdom (1500-1200 BC). In addition to nouns and adjectives with parallels in Sanskrit this Hurrian speaking kingdom had kings with Indo-Aryan names and two documents even list the main Gods of the Indian pantheon….” (‘About the  Mittani-Aryan Gods', Arna ud Fournet) https://wordpress.com/stats/post/63800/ramanisblog.in --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ramanispodcast/message

A Story Club: Global Politics S1 E5streamed live on FB from the US (San Francisco), India (Dehra Dun) and Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean, Thursdays 12pm EDT | 9am PDT | 9:30pm ISTHave we fundamentally misunderstood Iran?How many of us understand that Iran is Ancient Persia, one of the greatest empires and civilizations in world history – at least equivalent to Greece and Rome, but perhaps closer to India and China in its longevity and importance.When the Shah of Iran was overthrown in 1979, that had put to end a royal dynasty that was over 2,500 years old, stretching back to the Achaemenid Empire by Cyrus the Great. Persia (Iran) has been a great centre of architecture, the arts, poetry, music, science and civilization for millennia. Its language dominated the educated classes of the region from Turkey in the West to Muslim India in the East, like Latin did in Europe, or Greek in the Mediterranean world.In addition, Iran means “Land of the Aryans”. This gives it very close ancient ties to India and the Indo-Aryan culture and language family, which stretches from India to Europe, and now over the whole world because of the English language.Despite the current Iranian regime's fundamentalism, ordinary Iranians remain a fundamentally modern and open people.Has it been wrongly blamed for global Islamic terrorism and jihad, which are more closely tied to extremists in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan? What role can it play in play in countering the violently fanatic currents of Wahhabism, Salafism and Debandism out of these other places?Join me, Dr. Kirk Meighoo, to discuss these issues with Jason Reza Jorjani, an Iranian American philosopher and theorist and author of Prometheus and Atlas, Lovers of Sophia, World State of Emergency, and Iranian Leviathan: A Monumental History of Mithra's Abode   

The Romani are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally itinerant, living mostly in Europe and the Americas. The Romani originate from the northern Indian subcontinent, from the Rajasthan, Haryana, and Punjab regions of modern-day India. Romani religious beliefs are rooted in Hinduism. Romani believe in a universal balance, called kuntari. Everything must have its natural place: birds fly and fish swim. The story of Saint Sara Kali and a reflection upon how she changes destiny by the power of the waters, as the nexus of waters conjoin. We look forward to having you tune-into our broadcast this Friday, June 12 @ 8 pm EST live here on Facebook and our YouTube Channell Ancestral Eyes.

For four decades, UCLA’s Stephanie Jamison has been somewhat defiantly seeking the stories of women among some of the oldest texts in the world. Jamison shares some of what she has unearthed, the names and stories of women we have likely never heard of before. Jamison’s expertise lies in Indo-Iranian, especially Sanskrit and middle Indo-Aryan languages with an emphasis on linguistics, literature and poetics, religion and law, mythology and ritual, and gender. Series: "UCLA Faculty Research Lectures" [Humanities] [Show ID: 34409]

For four decades, UCLA’s Stephanie Jamison has been somewhat defiantly seeking the stories of women among some of the oldest texts in the world. Jamison shares some of what she has unearthed, the names and stories of women we have likely never heard of before. Jamison’s expertise lies in Indo-Iranian, especially Sanskrit and middle Indo-Aryan languages with an emphasis on linguistics, literature and poetics, religion and law, mythology and ritual, and gender. Series: "UCLA Faculty Research Lectures" [Humanities] [Show ID: 34409]

For four decades, UCLA’s Stephanie Jamison has been somewhat defiantly seeking the stories of women among some of the oldest texts in the world. Jamison shares some of what she has unearthed, the names and stories of women we have likely never heard of before. Jamison’s expertise lies in Indo-Iranian, especially Sanskrit and middle Indo-Aryan languages with an emphasis on linguistics, literature and poetics, religion and law, mythology and ritual, and gender. Series: "UCLA Faculty Research Lectures" [Humanities] [Show ID: 34409]

For four decades, UCLA’s Stephanie Jamison has been somewhat defiantly seeking the stories of women among some of the oldest texts in the world. Jamison shares some of what she has unearthed, the names and stories of women we have likely never heard of before. Jamison’s expertise lies in Indo-Iranian, especially Sanskrit and middle Indo-Aryan languages with an emphasis on linguistics, literature and poetics, religion and law, mythology and ritual, and gender. Series: "UCLA Faculty Research Lectures" [Humanities] [Show ID: 34409]

For four decades, UCLA’s Stephanie Jamison has been somewhat defiantly seeking the stories of women among some of the oldest texts in the world. Jamison shares some of what she has unearthed, the names and stories of women we have likely never heard of before. Jamison’s expertise lies in Indo-Iranian, especially Sanskrit and middle Indo-Aryan languages with an emphasis on linguistics, literature and poetics, religion and law, mythology and ritual, and gender. Series: "UCLA Faculty Research Lectures" [Humanities] [Show ID: 34409]

For four decades, UCLA’s Stephanie Jamison has been somewhat defiantly seeking the stories of women among some of the oldest texts in the world. Jamison shares some of what she has unearthed, the names and stories of women we have likely never heard of before. Jamison’s expertise lies in Indo-Iranian, especially Sanskrit and middle Indo-Aryan languages with an emphasis on linguistics, literature and poetics, religion and law, mythology and ritual, and gender. Series: "UCLA Faculty Research Lectures" [Humanities] [Show ID: 34409]

Welcome/Disclaimer/Support the show Thanks to Calypso CBD Use Discount Code BAKEDANDAWAKE at checkout for 30% off your first order of high quality CBD products of all kinds.  Visit www.calypsocbd.com today to check out their offerings. Let me know what your experience was like because I love hearing about it! talktous@bakedandawake.com.  Thanks are also owed to my friend from the Tartary Xirtus Discord Community, Stellium 7.  Stellium makes some really thought provoking videos to say the least and publishes them to YouTube, and he is the person who put me on to the Norb Theory and for that we all owe him our gratitude. At least I do, and I think once you hear a little bit about this model of the universe, you’ll agree that its one worth pondering as I have found it to be. But also by all means go with wide open mind and imagination and watch Stellium 7’s 4 part series called Unveiling a Titan, where he makes an incredibly compelling case for gigantic, no- titanic life forms not only having lived on earth once, but having left behind their bodies to be seen in, and eventually become part of the earth itself. The Norb Theory https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jH44AfehEdY   **Note: This is my heads up to everyone listening, but especially to members of the audience who are people of color other than white. One or two of the terms we will be using today may be surprising to hear at first, and seem to indicate a wrong turn on my part into territory verging on being racist in tone in some fashion.  The words I refer to are tow names for so called “Root Races” of humanity- The Polarians, and the Aryans. It’s weird how strange and anxiety inducing it is to spell those words out myself and prepare to go in on explaining the context in which the words are being used and how somehow that isn’t secretly some way for me to work as an apologist for a dark and nefarious White Supremacist Agenda. The last words all capitalized as a way of driving the point home to myself.  I mean, heck- we’re gonna find out one way or the other before we’re through, but I really hope you all give me the benefit of the doubt knowing I was up front with you about it, so we can work through the material together. Let’s remember first off that the word itself, Aryan- as opposed to the simply sort of weird “Polarian” that I’m only encountering now in the Norb Theory for the first time- that Aryan as a designation for humans, as even Wikipedia notes, was, and I’ll go ahead and quote “"Aryan" (/ˈɛəriən/)[1] has as its root a term that was used as a self-designation by Indo-Iranian people.[note 1] The term was used by the Indic people of the Vedic period in India as an ethnic label for themselves and to refer to the noble class as well as the geographic region known as Āryāvarta, where Indo-Aryan culture is based.[2][3] The closely related Iranian people also used the term as an ethnic label for themselves in the Avesta scriptures, and the word forms the etymological source of the country name Iran.[4][5][6][7] It was believed in the 19th century that Aryan was also a self-designation used by all Proto-Indo-Europeans, a theory that has now been abandoned.[8] Scholars point out that, even in ancient times, the idea of being an "Aryan" was religious, cultural and linguistic, not racial.   Episode Credits LINKS: Website: www.bakedandawake.com (http://www.bakedandawake.com)   Email: talktous@bakedandawake.com   Rss: http://bakedandawake.libsyn.com/rss   YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/BakedAndAwakePodcast   Libsyn Podcast Page: http://bakedandawake.libsyn.com/  (http://bakedandawake.libsyn.com/)   Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/bakedandawakepodcast   Twitter:  https://twitter.com/stevecominski (@baked_and_awake)   Insta: https://www.instagram.com/baked_and_awake/   Teepublic: https://www.teepublic.com/user/bakedandawake   Episode ambient Music generously provided by Antti Luode (http://www.soundclick.com/AnttiLuode),http://www.soundclick.com/_mobileFrame.cfm?bandID=1277008   Baked and Awake is proudly affiliated with the Dark Myths Collective. Visit www.darkmyths.org for more @baked_and_awake @daddyissuezshow @damagedgoodstheshow @claymiles #bakedandawakeshow #smokeindicadoshitanyway #podcastbuildersleague

Welcome/Disclaimer/Support the show Thanks to Calypso CBD Use Discount Code BAKEDANDAWAKE at checkout for 30% off your first order of high quality CBD products of all kinds.  Visit www.calypsocbd.com today to check out their offerings. Let me know what your experience was like because I love hearing about it! talktous@bakedandawake.com.  Thanks are also owed to my friend from the Tartary Xirtus Discord Community, Stellium 7.  Stellium makes some really thought provoking videos to say the least and publishes them to YouTube, and he is the person who put me on to the Norb Theory and for that we all owe him our gratitude. At least I do, and I think once you hear a little bit about this model of the universe, you’ll agree that its one worth pondering as I have found it to be. But also by all means go with wide open mind and imagination and watch Stellium 7’s 4 part series called Unveiling a Titan, where he makes an incredibly compelling case for gigantic, no- titanic life forms not only having lived on earth once, but having left behind their bodies to be seen in, and eventually become part of the earth itself. The Norb Theory **Note: This is my heads up to everyone listening, but especially to members of the audience who are people of color other than white. One or two of the terms we will be using today may be surprising to hear at first, and seem to indicate a wrong turn on my part into territory verging on being racist in tone in some fashion.  The words I refer to are tow names for so called “Root Races” of humanity- The Polarians, and the Aryans. It’s weird how strange and anxiety inducing it is to spell those words out myself and prepare to go in on explaining the context in which the words are being used and how somehow that isn’t secretly some way for me to work as an apologist for a dark and nefarious White Supremacist Agenda. The last words all capitalized as a way of driving the point home to myself.  I mean, heck- we’re gonna find out one way or the other before we’re through, but I really hope you all give me the benefit of the doubt knowing I was up front with you about it, so we can work through the material together. Let’s remember first off that the word itself, Aryan- as opposed to the simply sort of weird “Polarian” that I’m only encountering now in the Norb Theory for the first time- that Aryan as a designation for humans, as even Wikipedia notes, was, and I’ll go ahead and quote “"Aryan" (/ˈɛəriən/)[1] has as its root a term that was used as a self-designation by Indo-Iranian people.[note 1] The term was used by the Indic people of the Vedic period in India as an ethnic label for themselves and to refer to the noble class as well as the geographic region known as Āryāvarta, where Indo-Aryan culture is based.[2][3] The closely related Iranian people also used the term as an ethnic label for themselves in the Avesta scriptures, and the word forms the etymological source of the country name Iran.[4][5][6][7] It was believed in the 19th century that Aryan was also a self-designation used by all Proto-Indo-Europeans, a theory that has now been abandoned.[8] Scholars point out that, even in ancient times, the idea of being an "Aryan" was religious, cultural and linguistic, not racial.[9][10][11] So, all that out of the way, we can try to begin to unpack the monster that is the Norb Theory!  Themes you’ll perhaps see shades of ahead in the cosmogony about to be presented include, but are not limited to, as mentioned elsewhere, The Globe Earth and Big Bang, something very much like the Flat Earth model, A version of a Hollow Earth, The Notion of a Cosmic Egg, and that egg being one of countless numbers of eggs coexisting at the same time- a Multiverse model if you will. There’s parts of this that call to mind lots of things I’ve watched from the Thunderbolts Project and Electric Universe folks. See my episodes about The Ganymede Hypothesis and The Purple Dawn Theory to hear a lot more about them by the way. You may even pick up a matrix vibe, or as the Ancients Meso Americans called it- The Maya or “Illusion” that is this material existence. Transient, ephemeral, and perhaps to be experienced over and over again until some form of enlightenment or ascendance is achieved, thus freeing the soul from it’s labors in the material realm. All this and I’m sure more will hint at its inclusion in the model we are about to explore.    Norb’s Theory, as I understand it today, having the existing context I do from many years of reading and studying, at a casual but somewhat consistent pace- all sorts of mythologies and fringe theories Brings together the Globe Earth, Flat Earth, Hollow Earth, and both the Big Bang and Cosmic Egg models into one somewhat agreeable framework. Uses ancient myths and scriptures to make the connections between all of Earth’s existing cultures, and the epochs of human civilization that came before, as detailed over and over again in different oral and written traditions. Explains better than any other source I have encountered, who and what the so called “Root Races” are, and therefore who we are within that family tree. For a great primer on the Root Race Theory, See Spirit Science Channel on YouTube and start with this video: The core tenet of the model rests upon a literal point.  The so named Zero point axis, located crossing the earth’s poles, is the origin of all material existence and can be likened to a droplet of water or better, a bubble that instantiates at the zero point, expands, and periodically “bursts”, allowing for a new pulse to grow from the zero point, and slowly displacing the former waveform, or realm, to the outer perimeter. Think of a pebble being dropped from a modest height straight into still waters, like from a footbridge into a pond. We’ve all seen and enjoyed watching the ripples form and emanate out from the (zero) point of impact In this model, the terms extra terrestrial, and outer space refer not to far flung regions of the interstellar void. Rather, they imply peoples and lands that exist beyond the edges of our current, Atlantean (We’ll get to that) realm. This edge of our realm is currently encountered by traveling to Antarctica, and would look a lot like the Flat Earth model’s “Ice Wall” at the base of the domed firmament. (See a US Government Antarctic expedition named Operation fishbowl for seeming corroboration of the existence of an impenetrable dome).   The model posits that there have been four full time ripples, or epochs including this one, each lasting 24,000 years, each of which also had its own realm and root race starting with the Polarians, at the Zero Point Axis. Think of the Polarians as the Master Human Race, and it would seem, where our souls originate. They continue to exist and emanate the subsequent races from their MIND, throughout all our Epochs, though they are more or less cut off from us and not detectable or able to be communicated with. The Polarians first era was one of pure consciousness, with no earth to speak of or at least not the land masses we know of today. These mostly ethereal, or astral beings remain at the center and are the source code or originators of each of the Human Root Races, beginning with the Hyperboreans (Epoch/Wave 2), followed by the Lemurians(Wave 3), and then our Human Root Race, the Atlanteans(Wave 4), who have been recently displaced by the so called (Wave 5)“Aryans” (Try hard not to get hung up on this term as it really, truly applies to beings of multiple hues and races, not just Jack Booted thugs from Germany)   During the transition between ripples/epochs, the then currently preeminent race and realm experience cataclysms of varying sorts. Invariably there is great loss of life, followed by a long and laborious rebuilding period during which Mankind is forced to go through a new Stone Age, then continuing on through Iron, Bronze, Silver, and Golden Ages of development with the Golden Age being something resembling the height of the late 18th and 19th Centuries, especially in so called Western Cultures.  That’s right, our own beloved, industrial and technologically driven 20th and 21st Centuries probably represent post peak human development in a number of key aspects, but crucially also when viewed through the lens of the cosmic, 24,000 year epoch calendar and cycle.   It was in Poor Richard’s Almanac that Ben Franklin wrote about astrology, saying: “Oh the wonderful knowledge to be found in the stars. Even the smallest things are written there…if you had but skill to read.”   Donald Reagan, formerly Ronald Reagan’s Chief of Staff said: “It’s common knowledge that a large percentage of Wall Street brokers use astrology.” Physicist Albert Einstein said : “Astrology is a science in itself and contains an illuminating body of knowledge. It taught me many things and I am greatly indebted to it.”   BELOW NOTES TAKEN FROM NORB'S YT CHANNEL PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO HIM AND WATCH THE FULL PRESENTATIONS THANK YOU!  Infographics and frames: https://www.patreon.com/posts/norb-th... Reverse engineering the globe. EDIT: I'm getting asked a lot if people can re-upload this and or translate it to their language. The answer is YES - please do - all I ask is that you do not monetize it, do not name it the OFFICIAL video in your title, state that it's MIRRORED with a link back to the original. It has already been translated to Russian, and Spanish is coming up next. Feel free to do the short version of this as well as that is aimed more at the crowd that likes small byte sized content bits vs the 36min version. Thanks for watching! Here's the soundtrack :: https://soundcloud.com/norbzworld/i-h... Here's the SHORT version :: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iigUB... - - - - - Here are some other cool related videos - - - - - FlatEarth Universe Martin Kenny :: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PJ1_... The History Of Humans/Our Times: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swe3E... Frequency / Cymatics / Bio-Sonoluminescence https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJJ_z... ^ This is beautiful - greatly goes into the sine wave/sonar Confessions Of A Music Industry Insider https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FsH8... ^ This is how music really influences masses History Of Flat Earth :: Eric Dubay https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcZMP... Under The Dome :: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk4Yq... 200 Proofs Earth Is Flat :: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ax_Y... It all starts with Magnetism :: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1nv0... ------------------------------------------ Quick Search :: https://www.youtube.com/results?searc... ------------------------------------------ Hi, thanks again for taking time out to watch this. I know, it's abstract, and is meant as a thought exercise vs a definitive belief (hence 'theory'). First time I heard the term 'flat earth' or 'geocentric vs heliocentric earth', I thought 'hmmmm kinda crazy but it wouldn't surprise me'. The ancient Greek, Hebrew, Norse, Hindu and other cosmology all use the ORB theory. A lot of the theories mix well with 'some' parts of modern science, and 'some' parts of major religions. I tried to model this after watching Martin Kenny's video (linked above). Episode Credits LINKS: Website: www.bakedandawake.com (http://www.bakedandawake.com)   Email: talktous@bakedandawake.com   Rss: http://bakedandawake.libsyn.com/rss   YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/BakedAndAwakePodcast   Libsyn Podcast Page: http://bakedandawake.libsyn.com/  (http://bakedandawake.libsyn.com/)   Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/bakedandawakepodcast   Twitter:  https://twitter.com/stevecominski (@baked_and_awake)   Insta: https://www.instagram.com/baked_and_awake/   Teepublic: https://www.teepublic.com/user/bakedandawake   Episode ambient Music generously provided by Antti Luode (http://www.soundclick.com/AnttiLuode),http://www.soundclick.com/_mobileFrame.cfm?bandID=1277008   Baked and Awake is proudly affiliated with the Dark Myths Collective. Visit www.darkmyths.org for more

Tonight we have Lily Starling about "Russian Bots" and then Eric Kurlander Hitler's Monsters: A Supernatural History of the Third ReichThe Nazi fascination with the occult is legendary, yet today it is often dismissed as Himmler's personal obsession or wildly overstated for its novelty. Preposterous though it was, however, supernatural thinking was inextricable from the Nazi project. The regime enlisted astrology and the paranormal, paganism, Indo-Aryan mythology, witchcraft, miracle weapons, and the lost kingdom of Atlantis in reimagining German politics and society and recasting German science and religion. In this eye-opening history, Eric Kurlander reveals how the Third Reich's relationship to the supernatural was far from straightforward. Even as popular occultism and superstition were intermittently rooted out, suppressed, and outlawed, the Nazis drew upon a wide variety of occult practices and esoteric sciences to gain power, shape propaganda and policy, and pursue their dreams of racial utopia and empire.https://www.amazon.com/Hitlers-Monsters-Supernatural-History-Third/dp/0300189451/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=theopprep-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=35ed375abd9a3f31379feca10af1c2c8&creativeASIN=0300189451This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/1198501/advertisement

“A dense and scholarly book about . . . the relationship between the Nazi party and the occult . . . reveals stranger-than-fiction truths on every page.”—Daily TelegraphThe Nazi fascination with the occult is legendary, yet today it is often dismissed as Himmler's personal obsession or wildly overstated for its novelty. Preposterous though it was, however, supernatural thinking was inextricable from the Nazi project. The regime enlisted astrology and the paranormal, paganism, Indo-Aryan mythology, witchcraft, miracle weapons, and the lost kingdom of Atlantis in reimagining German politics and society and recasting German science and religion.In this eye-opening history, Eric Kurlander reveals how the Third Reich's relationship to the supernatural was far from straightforward. Even as popular occultism and superstition were intermittently rooted out, suppressed, and outlawed, the Nazis drew upon a wide variety of occult practices and esoteric sciences to gain power, shape propaganda and policy, and pursue their dreams of racial utopia and empire.“[Kurlander] shows how swiftly irrational ideas can take hold, even in an age before social media.”—The Washington Post“Deeply researched, convincingly authenticated, this extraordinary study of the magical and supernatural at the highest levels of Nazi Germany will astonish.”—The Spectator“A trustworthy [book] on an extraordinary subject.”—The Times “A fascinating look at a little-understood aspect of fascism.”—Kirkus Reviews“Kurlander provides a careful, clear-headed, and exhaustive examination of a subject so lurid that it has probably scared away some of the serious research it merits.”—National ReviewThis show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/1198501/advertisement